Lesson for Sept 1-14: The Sunny 16 Rule - Exposure Theory
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Sept 1-14
The Sunny 16 Rule - Exposure Theory
Today's digital camera's are pretty good at getting the exposure right for you - but to get the most out of your camera you are going to need to know some exposure basics. Back when camera's did not have a light meter built into them (they existed!), photographers used a rule that will get you very close to the correct exposure
"The Sunny 16 Rule" and it goes like this.......
First, you are going to need to get out of that AV/TV mode for this one - set your camera to MANUAL EXPOSURE mode.
Sunny Day
Set your aperture to F16
Set your shutter speed to match your ISO (if using ISO 200 - 1/200th of a second).
This will give you a correct exposure for a middle tone subject. With a white subject you need to reduce the exposure (stop down 1/2 to a full stop- F19 to F22) and for a black subject you will add to the exposure (open up 1/2 to a full stop- F13 to F11).
Now you might not want to use F16. For example, you may want to use a wider aperture to make the background more out of focus. You can adjust the F-STOP number as long as you adjust the shutter speed accordingly - opening up by one full stop means cutting the shutter speed in half and vice versa. Here is a reciprocal value chart http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...e-F-Stop-Chart
Here is a list of the Full Fstops
f/1 f/1.4 f/2 f/2.8 f/4 f/5.6 f/8 f/11 f/16 f/22 f/32 f/45
and
Full Stop Shutter Speeds
4 - 2 - 1 - 1/2 - 1/4 - 1/8 - 1/15 - 1/30 - 1/60 - 1/125 - 1/250 - 1/500 - 1/1000 - 1/2000 - 1/4000 - 1/8000
(Your camera may have the ability to also work in 1/2 and 1/3 stops)
And if it is not Sunny, Start with these....
f/11 for Slight Overcast
f/8 for Overcast
f/5.6 for Heavy Overcast
f/4 for Sunset
Understanding exposure is still relevant in today's digital age. You do use exposure compensation, don't you???
This month's lesson is to post images created using the Sunny 16 Rule - so using full Manual exposure using the above as a guideline.
Try to photograph subjects of different colors and tonality, while trying different SS and F-Stop combinations
